Among the many grave challenges that Nigeria is facing currently, preparing the young generation to add value to the national economy in the future seems to be the hardest. Since that last few years, the nation has been steeped in corruption, terrorist attacks, political uncertainty, high unemployment rates and poor educational opportunities. This creates a huge pressure not only on the society but also on the youths.

Challenges For Nigerian Youths

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With constantly growing rate of unemployment, it is believed that around 75 per cent of Nigerian youths are ill-equipped to cope the international job market, recession and the global economy. This raises various other issues such as easy access to financial support for start-ups along with other challenges in development. Many experts and youth forums highlight the necessity of quality education as well as practical strategies that will enable young people to deal with specific needs and prepare them to deal with challenges in future. Mass poverty is one of the most menacing challenges in Nigeria and represents a big fraction of the overall national population. Most Nigerian youths face much difficulty in getting a job and starting their careers or even their own business.

Unemployment: The Biggest Challenge

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Unemployment is a basic reality for almost all youths, which is even higher than adult unemployment rate. This clearly denotes an improper utilisation of our human capital resources, especially of the Nigerian youth. This also goes to show that most employers do not trust the skills, knowledge and experience of fresh graduates. Young people who get the chance to attend school education are compelled to stay in education for a longer duration by pursuing a masters degree programme. Employment opportunities are becoming more scarce with decreasing salaries and unstable careers.

Those youths who are unable to access higher education opportunities, tend to move away from the school system due to various factors like financial struggles, political disturbances etc. These people are often overlooked by the corporate sector and receive only menial jobs with minimal pay, mostly due to lack of skill and experience. According to statistics, more than 3 million youths in the state of Lagos are still unemployed. With over 2 million people under skilled for employment. Moreover, numerous others are forced to work in temporary jobs are usually taken advantage of by employment agencies with minimal pay and no benefits. Due to all these problems, youths in Nigeria are taking interest in unproductive activities like drug abuse, internet fraud, violent behavior, prostitution, criminal activities, repeated riots etc.

Offering Quality Education

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A reputed English Professor said “The biggest problem Nigeria has with empowering her youth is the fact that they throw temporal solutions to permanent problem and never address issues from the grassroots”.

In the past few years, many NGOs have come forward with excellent processes, strategies and concepts that help the youth to access quality higher education and help them to develop skills that are essential for the workplace. The organisations have a clear understanding of the challenges faced by the Nigerian youth and know how these can be dealt with. Hence, they develop targeted solutions that will enable our youths to face various challenges and uncertainties and move closer towards economic independence.

Do you want to survive the intense competition in today’s corporate world? Then apart from acquiring necessary skills and relevant experience, you need to earn the right degree that will enable you to improve your job prospects. Nowadays, it has become imperative that you pursue an undergraduate degree to steer your career in the right direction. But students in Africa, especially in Nigeria, find it really difficult to earn degree due to various social and political reasons. Let’s have a look what are the challenges and what solutions are available for our African students….

Challenges for Nigerian students

Students and parents have to cope with some gut-wrenching reality while deciding whether to attend school or not. But I guess it has become easier for the parents to make the decision as more than 800 schools have already shut down in northeast Nigeria as a result of terrorism and insecurity.

The CCSG (Coalition of Civil Society Groups) conducted an independent assessment of the scenario which revealed that more than 194,664 students have been compelled not to attend schools due to some emergency situations. Etuk Bassey Williams, President of CCSG, believes that the closing of schools will severely affect the nation as Nigeria will be unable to achieve the primary school enrollment benchmarks set for 2015.

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Does this mean Nigerian students are unable receive even basic education?

No. A number of academic analysts claim that online education can prove to be a powerful tool for schools to reach students directly in their homes, specifically in northeast Nigeria. It will not only better primary education, but also expand the reach of higher education programmes like undergraduate and postgraduate degrees across the country.

Is Online education effective?

Former president of ASUU (Academic Staff Union of Universities), Dr. Dipo Fashina, believes that the existing education system in Nigeria is highly flawed and it urgently needs a serious reformation. Dr. Fashina said,

“Education is the major thing that promotes being at the height of development and we are not there yet.”

You can find a large number of students already pursuing online undergraduate diploma programmes in Nigeria. This is mostly due to dysfunctional traditional education practices that produce under-prepared graduates who are unable to find suitable employment. Just like thousands of students in Nigeria, you can acquire high quality education and qualifications from recognized institutions in UK and US by studying online.

An affordable and helpful option

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Online programmes offered by reputed UK colleges are not only widely recognized and accepted, but these are highly affordable as well. These programmes are offered to millions of students worldwide by using the same resources and do not require heavy infrastructure investments. Hence you can easily earn an online UK undergraduate diploma from the convenience of your home without shelling out too much money.

Nigerian students, who cannot attend conventional classrooms, can now easily participate in online learning as the opportunities are expanding with more than 175 million mobile phone subscriptions per month in the nation. Moreover, with a developing telecommunications sector and better internet broadband connectivity, the scope of online education has increased to offer Nigerian students in troubled regions a better option for learning.

Now you can easily access African-friendly versions of online education platforms offered by reputed universities in Europe and US and build your career the way you want.